GREAT WIRELESS MOMENTS

9 May 2013

with thanks to Josephine Crabb

A packed audience listened to physicist Brian Hawes speaking at a Cookham Festival event on the subject of Great Wireless Moments today at Holy Trinity School.

The topic covered the contributions to wireless invention of the scientists James Maxwell Clerk, Heinrich Hertz, Edourd Branley and Professor Oliver Lodge as well as one time Cookham resident Guglielmo Marconi.

Much laughter generated when Mr Hawes talked about the rivalry between wireless and cable telegraph and an early case of industrial espionage when the Eastern Telegraph Company hired a magician to spy on Marconi’s work.

One dramatic wireless moment involved the wireless distress call from the Titanic. The audience was shown a photograph of the wireless room known as the Marconi Room on the RMS Olympic which was the sister ship of the Titanic and were told that the distress call from the Titanic was heard by the Olympic 500 miles away and too far away to help. Wireless at that time had a range of 400 miles by day and 2000 miles by night.    

At the talk conclusion the audience crowded round the speaker to look at the demonstration wireless equipment including an example of a crystal set and a coherer